Background Checks for Financial Institutions

Background checks and drug screenings in the financial services industry are some of the most valuable tools a commercial company can utilize when hiring new employees. With the US Patriot Act, Sarbanes Oxley requirements, and FDIC guidelines, the financial sector requires careful attention to their employment methods.

Financial institutions have heightened security needs and complex financial regulations that must be followed to ensure accountability at every turn. From the “Know Your Customers” due diligence requirements to the FDIC Federal Deposit Insurance Act, financial institutions must follow strict guidelines when hiring employees to ensure they can be trusted with sensitive client information. Therefore, it is vital to conduct background checks on prospective employees.

Reduce risk and limit financial loss with ProVerifys secure, on-demand background checks for financial institutions. We help you navigate complex compliance regulations and provide accurate background checks on every applicant so you can be confident in your hiring decisions.

Know Who you’re Hiring

Aside from providing criminal background checks, we verify past employment and education, and provide you with a full background report on every candidate. Our comprehensive screening solutions ensure your candidate is who they say they are, helping you avoid costly hiring mistakes that can jeopardize your company and reputation.

The proper due-diligence in hiring requires that an applicant’s history is checked against United States government sanctions and watch lists. For example, OFAC, FINRA, the Patriot Act, Sarbanes-Oxley, FFIEC, FDIC, and other specific requirements.

Recommended Screening Packages Financial Service
Screening Package
Identity Verification  
National Federal Criminal Search  
National Criminal Database Search  
Global Terrorist Watch Search  
OFAC-SDN Search  
Past Employment Verification  
Education Verification  
Liens, judgments & Bankruptcies  

Three Reasons for Fingerprinting Your Financial Service Employees

There’s a lot of noise out there about whether name-based or fingerprint-based background checks are more secure. From our extensive experience in background screening, we know there’s value in both. Here are three scenarios that reinforce our recommendation of fingerprint-based checks for the financial services industry:

  • Identity Verification. – Fingerprint-based background checks help ensure that the name and social security number belong to the person you’re hiring. Identity documents and social security numbers, after all, can be counterfeited or stolen. Make sure the person you’re hiring is who they say they are.
  • Customer Perception. – The importance of customer perception in financial service success is greater today than ever before. In fact, companies that actively develop an emotional connection with their customers are more successful in retaining existing customers, gaining new customers, and increasing the value of both. And since the financial services industry consistently looks for ways to gain consumer trust, it’s well worth it to prove that your organization is trustworthy from top to bottom.
  • Market Share. – A 2018 Oliver Wyman report suggests that, though nearly $1 trillion in market value has been created in financial services, it is largely dominated by Big Tech companies that, until recently, generated better consumer trust metrics than the financial industry. With privacy concerns on the rise in Big Tech, now is an excellent time for financial services organizations to prove they take customer security seriously, win back trust, and reclaim some of that market share. Running fingerprint-based background checks on the employees in your buildings helps build fundamental trust.

As a leader in the financial services industry, you’re already required to run fingerprint-based background screening on some of your employees. That’s good from a compliance perspective –— but compliance alone may no longer be enough.

Here are three key reasons financial services firms should be expanding their fingerprinting program(s)s to a broader base of employees.

There’s a lot of noise out there about whether name-based or fingerprint-based background checks are more secure. From our extensive experience in background screening, we know there’s value in both. Here are three scenarios that reinforce our recommendation of fingerprint-based checks for the financial services industry:

  • Identity Verification. – Fingerprint-based background checks help ensure that the name and social security number belong to the person you’re hiring. Identity documents and social security numbers, after all, can be counterfeited or stolen. Make sure the person you’re hiring is who they say they are.
  • Customer Perception. – The importance of customer perception in financial service success is greater today than ever before. In fact, companies that actively develop an emotional connection with their customers are more successful in retaining existing customers, gaining new customers, and increasing the value of both. And since the financial services industry consistently looks for ways to gain consumer trust, it’s well worth it to prove that your organization is trustworthy from top to bottom.
  • Market Share. – A 2018 Oliver Wyman report suggests that, though nearly $1 trillion in market value has been created in financial services, it is largely dominated by Big Tech companies that, until recently, generated better consumer trust metrics than the financial industry. With privacy concerns on the rise in Big Tech, now is an excellent time for financial services organizations to prove they take customer security seriously, win back trust, and reclaim some of that market share. Running fingerprint-based background checks on the employees in your buildings helps build fundamental trust.

The more processes you have, the harder they become to manage and the longer they take to complete. Right now, unemployment is low, so you can’t afford to lose good candidates to long, drawn-out hiring practices. Moving to a consistent fingerprint-based process for your potential employees means you have:

  • A consistent process for your employees
  • A partnership with a single provider for all your identity verification and background screening needs
  • A network of similar, comfortable locations for your candidates to access –— ensuring their hiring experiences are positive

Using one process also ensures that every candidate is supported equally by your screening partner through the hiring process. Pick an organization with excellent customer service, a large network of fingerprinting locations, and a stellar reputation; rest assured, you are making the process even better.

If you resisted fingerprinting everyone before because of the sub-optimal experience, there’s good news: it’s improved, a lot.

In the past, most fingerprinting was done in law enforcement offices by people who, though they were trained to capture good prints, may not have delivered the best customer experience. Fingerprinting done outside of law enforcement offices often tended to be in random, disparate locations like a bail bonds company or even in the back room of a restaurant. The process was quite frequently awkward and uncomfortable.

It’s different now.

Today, law enforcement is moving out of the fingerprinting business. Our support team has, for the past couple of years, seen an increase in calls from customers whose local law enforcement agencies no longer provide fingerprinting services, and entire states are following Colorado’s lead in considering legislation that removes law enforcement from non-criminal fingerprinting processes.

This move has left a rather sizeable hole in the fingerprinting market that companies have rushed to fill, and where there’s competition, there’s innovation. Most fingerprinting service organizations now offer live scan fingerprinting, which captures an electronic version of prints to send directly to the screening organization and doesn’t leave your candidates with ink-stained hands. More importantly, the competition has spurred an improvement in customer service, so your candidates wait less and get better assistance than ever before. And with customers posting Yelp and Google reviews of their fingerprinting locations, the pressure to offer quality customer service is only increasing.

Keep Business Moving Forward

Across financial services, professional services, and real estate firms, your employees should embody core values most important to your business and culture. This means demonstrating expertise and encompassing your company values on day one and throughout the length of their employment.

Our deep proficiency in your industry allows us to make best practice recommendations about pre- and post-hire employment screening and identity services that can be customized to match the unique needs of your firm.